Posted by Keith in Waswhington on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 at 10:48:51 :
In Reply to: Cutting into an old oil tank posted by David Sherman on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 18:57:04 :
David:
Are they removing your topsoil due to the smelter fall out there in Everett. I forget the company that did it. I grew up just south of Three Tree Point across from Vashon Island. That area was in the fall out plume from the Tacoma smelter. My mom was an avid gardener so she was digging into the contaminated soil all the time. At lease we were not in the main fall out area that was on Vashon.
As to oil tanks, you use to be able to pump them out then fill with cement so no one could ever use it again. They pump it in through the filler spout. They did that to a gas station down the road where the building was built over the tank. The guy who owned it was a oil jobber. I am not sure what WA law requires now. Most old tanks leak. Often it is caused by the garbage that they back fill the hole with. They often have pin holes in them. If there is water in there then it is leaking hopefully above the oil level.
Minimum I would pump it out and make sure that there is not any oil in it. I have no comment on cutting into it. I would pull it out if it was mine. I am not sure what kind of problems you would have disposing of it. Maybe you can order a dump truck load of crushed rock and dump it into the hole and have the top soil guy help for a few bucks.
Good Luck.
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